Method of manufacturing polyimide foam shapes having improved density and cell size uniformity

ABSTRACT

A method of manufacturing lightweight shapes from polyimide foam in which density discontinuities such as cavities, varying cell size, or swirl marks are substantially eliminated. A block or bun of polyimide foam is prepared in a conventional manner which results in a high density rind and other discontinuities. The foam is chopped into fine flakes in a chopper with a continuous flow of air to prevent electrostatic attachment of the flakes to the chopper and ducting. The flakes are mixed with a quantity of polyimide precursor and then heated to cause the precursor to bond the flakes into a uniform mass having highly uniform and predictable density. This is a very economical process since portions of the original bun may be used which would ordinarily be discarded. An alternative method is described whereby the flakes can be bonded together by using the precursor in the form of a partially cured foam either as a binder, or by making the flakes of partially cured foam.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates in general to the manufacture of polyimide foamproducts and, more specifically, to the improvement in densityuniformity in such products.

Polyimide foam has been used for some time for thermal insulation,cushions, structural members and the like. Polyimides are particularlydesirable where high temperature resistance is required. They also havethe feature, highly desirable in aircraft, spacecraft, ships, and otherenclosed spaces where people are present, of producing essentially notoxic gases at high temperatures or when exposed to direct flame.

A variety of polyimide foam materials have been developed, such as thosedisclosed by Gagliani et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,717 and Shulman et alin U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,597. Typical applications of polyimide foams tohigh temperature insulation structures are detailed in copending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 07/312,490 filed Feb. 21, 1989, now U.S.Pat. No. 4,865,784 and Ser. No. 07/167,796 filed Mar. 17, 1988 now U.S.Pat. No. 4,874,648 by Crosswhite et al.

While excellent results have been obtained with polyimide foams, severalproblems have been encountered which affect the quality and size of thefinal product. During foaming of the product, particularly withmicrowave heating, excess gases are often generated in localized areascausing voids or vents. Also, during foaming, swirling occurs whichprevents the foam having uniform local density throughout the bun, withsignificant variations in cell size. A crust or rind forms on theoutside of the bun, which is unusable in the product and must be trimmedaway. There is considerable waste in trimming away the rind andnon-uniform regions of the foam buns.

Thus, there is a continuing need for improved methods of manufacturingpolyimide foam products which avoid non-uniform density regions andeliminates wasting large portions of the foamed buns due to non-uniformregions and rinds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above-noted problems, and others, are overcome by the method of thisinvention which basically comprises the steps of preparing a polyimidefoam bun in a conventional manner, passing the foamed material(including rind and non-uniform regions) through a chopper which shredsthe foam into fine flakes, mixing the flakes with a quantity ofpolyimide foam precursor then placing the mixture in a mold or othershaping means and curing the precursor. The density of the final foam iscontrolled by the quantity of material placed in the mold and thequantity of precursor used and can be as low as about 1.0 pound percubic foot. The final foam product is free from cavities and vents andis of highly uniform density.

If desired, any high quality portions of the original bun may be cut outand reserved for use in those applications where as-foamed material ispreferred. The remainder of the bun, which would ordinarily be useful inonly less stringent applications or would be wasted is processed intohigh quality foam as described above.

Any suitable polyimide foam material ma be used as the bun material andas the bonding precursor. The bun may be made by any suitable method.Typical polyimide foam materials and methods of foaming are described inthe above-mentioned Gagliani, Long and Shulman patents.

The foam flakes may have any suitable dimensions. Typically the flakeshave lengths of from about 1/16 to 1/8 inch, widths of from about 1/16to 1/8 inch and thicknesses of about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. The ratio of flakelength the thickness is preferably at least about 2 to 1. The foamshould not be ground to a fine powder since when powders are used in themethod of this invention, the density of the final foam will be greaterthan about 6 pounds per cubic foot, much higher than is desirable forinsulation and other light weight purposes.

If desired, the precursor powder may be at least partially foamed, butnot fully cured, before mixing with the flakes. The prefoamed polyimideprecursor materials may contain any suitable additives such as fillers,reinforcing materials, blowing agents or surfactants which are oftendesirable to improved uniformity of cell structure. Typical surfactantsinclude BRIJ-78 from ICI Corp., FSN and Zonyl from E. I. duPont deNemours & Co., L5302 and 15430 from Union Carbide Corp., 190 and 193from Dow Corning Corp. and FC430 from Minnesota Mining and ManufacturingCo. While any suitable concentration of surfactant may be used,generally from about 0.5 to 2 wt %, based on the weight of the liquidfoam precursor, is preferred. Typical fillers include glassmicroballoons, fibers, such as glass, graphite, Kevlar aramides,ceramics, fluorocarbon powders, etc.

The polyimide precursor mixed with the foam flakes may be in the form ofa finely divided powder. In most cases, the same precursor as that usedto make the original foam is preferred. Generally, best results areobtained where about 1 to 1 wt % of the flake/precursor powder ispreferred. Alternatively, the precursor powder may be dissolved in asuitable solvent, such as an alcohol, then sprayed onto the foam flakes.The moist mixture generally should be dried before the final moldingstep.

After the final foam product is formed in the mold, various post-formingtreatments or additions may be accomplished. The foam may be compressedand heated to thermally stabilize the foam at a lesser thickness.Various coverings may be applied after, or during, foam molding. Typicalcoverings include fabrics or mattes of fibrous materials such as glassfibers, Kevlar aramids, carbon filaments, etc., metal foils, plasticsheets, or the like. These materials may be bonded to the foam with anysuitable adhesive. Polyimide adhesives are preferred.

If the coverings are placed in the mold during processing, the polyimideprecursor mixed with the flakes may be sufficient to bond the foam tothe covering. Alternatively, the coverings could have been coated with asolution of polyimide precursor in a solvent such as alcohol and driedto form a "pre-preg" sheet prior to being placed in the mold. Variousother components, such as metal inserts, flanges, etc. may be bonded tothe final foam product either during the final forming step or after thefoam product is completed.

A plurality of layers of the final foam product may be bonded togetherwith intervening layers of an adhesive, with or without layers offabric, foil or the like between foam layers to form thick structures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Details of the invention, and of various preferred embodiments thereof,will be further understood upon reference to the drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation, partially cut-away, showing themethod and apparatus for chopping foam into flakes; and

FIG. 2 is a flow sheet illustrating the overall process of forminguniform density polyimide foam products.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is seen a schematic representation of aknife-type chopper 10. The chopper, of conventional design, used 8rotating knives 41/2 inches diameter having stationary blades spacedbetween the rotating knives. A 1 HP electric motor drove the rotatingknives at about 5,000 rev. per minute. It was usually necessary to chopthe material 3 times to get the desired flake size, and to make theflake size more uniform. Chopper 10 includes a plurality of rotatingknife blades 12 driven by a motor 14. Foam blocks or pieces 16 are fedinto chopper through a hopper 18 which also permits air to be drawn intothe chopper as indicated by arrows 20. When foam 16 encounters blades 12it is chopped into small flakes which exit chopper through hopper 22into a large diameter duct 24.

Moving chopped foam through 10 and duct 24 is difficult because thechopping action causes a strong electrostatic charge to be built up onthe small flakes. The flakes adhere tenaciously to all surfaces. In somecases, introducing a water spray mist into hopper 18 with foam 16 toslightly moisten the flakes will help reduce the electrostatic charge.However, we have found that drawing the flakes from the chopper with acentrifugal blower 26 of the sort used in conventional dust collectorsis effective despite the electrostatic charge. Blower 26, driven bymotor 28, draws a strong air current through chopper 10 to pull theflakes from the chopper, then directs them to bag filter 30, generallymade from a fiberglass fabric. This action reduces the electrostaticcharge on the flakes.

Bags 30 may then be easily emptied into any suitable container. Emptyingshould be done carefully, since rubbing the flakes together willreintroduce an electrostatic charge. Any suitable anti-static agentcompatible with the other materials may be used, if desired.

The methods of forming polyimide foam products of uniform density, usingthe flaking method and apparatus of FIG. 1, is illustrated by the flowdiagram of FIG. 1.

The initial step is to make or acquire suitable blocks or buns ofpolyimide foam as indicated in box 32. This conventional foam, made byany conventional method, as described above, may be entire foamed bunshaving a rind, swirls and cavities. Or, the foam could be the rind andscraps remaining after the best portions of the initial buns are removedfor other uses.

Next, as shown in box 34, the initial foam material is chopped to flakeshaving the desired dimensions, using an apparatus of the sort shown inFIG. 1. The blade shape and speed and the foam feed rate are adjustedempirically to provide the desired flake characteristics.

As shown in box 36, the flakes are collected and made ready for thefinal molding operation. Any additives may be incorporated at this time.

The flake material is mixed with the polyimide precursor and preparedfor molding. The flakes are preferably heated to a temperature of about300° F. prior to mixing with a precursor powder to help the powderparticles attach to the flakes. Alternatively, the precursor powder maybe dissolved in a suitable solvent, such as an alcohol, then mixed withthe foam flakes. In either case, the precursor uniformly thinly coatsand flakes.

In an alternative embodiment, the flake material can be bonded into aflexible, resilient form incompletely cured foam as the binder insteadof precursor powder or by making the flakes of incompletely cured foamand eliminating the binder. These two methods are simpler, and foamdensities as, low as 0.6 lb per cubic foot can be achieved, with somesacrifice in product strength.

The mixture containing precursor powder is then placed in any suitablemold as shown in box 40. The mixture is heated to cure the polyimideprecursor as indicated in box 42 and stabilize the final foam product.If higher density is required in the final product the material may becompressed to a suitable extent prior to the final heating step.

As discussed above, any suitable materials may be bonded to the finishedfoam or any suitable post-forming treatment may be given to the foam, asindicated in box 44. If desired, other materials, such as protectivesurface sheets may be placed in the mold prior to introduction of themixture to provide simultaneous forming and bonding.

The final product is uniform, has no voids or other discontinuities, hasno rind, and has a selected low density.

The following Examples detail certain preferred embodiments of ourmethod. Parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise indicated.

EXAMPLE I

About 300 grams of Monsanto 2601 "Skybond" polyimide prepolymer resin ismixed with about 1% by weight Dow-Corning 193 surfactant. The resin isrolled onto glass plates and dried with warm air at about 150° F. Thedried resin coating is scraped off the glass and ground to a powder in astandard kitchen blender. The powder is then spread onto Teflonfluorocarbon coated glass fabric and foamed in a circulating air ovenheated to about 350° F. for about 45 minutes. After foaming, thetemperature is increased to about 575° F. for about 2 hours to cure thepolyimide. The resulting flexible foam is then passed through a knifechopper 3 several times to ensure fine flakes, having an average longestdimension of about 1/4 inch. A total of about 125 grams of flakes isproduced which is then heated in a thermal oven at about 300° F. forabout 1/2 hour. About 100 grams of the same ground precursor powder isthen added to the flakes and vigorously mixed. The powder adheres to thesurfaces of the flakes because the hot flakes are warm enough to makethe powder slightly sticky. This mixture is compressed in the mold toabout half of its loose volume, which requires very little pressurebecause of the softness of the foam flake layer. The mold is placed in athermal oven at about 375° F. for about 30 minutes. Then, to completecure of the polyimide, the temperature is increased to about 575° F. forabout 2 hours. The resulting product is removed from the mold. Thedensity is found to be about 1.2 pounds per cubic foot. The finalproduct is compressible and flexible and has slightly reduced tensilestrength compared to the as-foamed material.

EXAMPLE II

A reinforcing surface sheet is bonded to the surface of the product asfollows. The product produced in Example I is lightly dusted with theSkybond prepolymer powder. Sheets of fiberglass fabric are placedagainst each face of the product and the assembly is returned to themold in which the product has been made. The mold is returned to thecirculating air oven and heated to about 350° F. for about 30 minutes,then the temperature is increased to about 550° F. for about 2 hours tofully cure the bonding polyimide. The mold is removed from the oven andcooled to room temperature. The product is removed from the mold. Theface sheets are found to be uniformly well bonded to the product, whichremains flexible. The product is now resistant to surface abrasion anddoes not dust or spall.

EXAMPLE III

About 300 grams of Skybond liquid polyimide prepolymer is mixed withabout 3 grams of Zonyl surfactant from duPont. The mixture is thinnedwith about an equal volume of Formula 35A denatured alcohol from AtlasChemical in San Diego, Calif. About 140 grams of polyimide foam flakesis prepared as described in Example I. The flakes are heated to about300° F. and sprayed with the resin solution while vigorously mixing theflakes. The flakes are thoroughly dried and the mixture is placed in amold which is coated with Teflon fluorocarbon mold release. The materialis cured as described in Example I. The final product is very similar tothat produced in Example I except that it is somewhat more rigid.

EXAMPLE IV

A mixture of polyimide foam and precursor powder is prepared asdescribed in Example I. An aluminum mold frame is placed between theplatens of a heated platen press, with the upper platen extending intothe mold frame. The interior of the mold and platen faces are sprayedwith No. 851-204 Teflon mold release spray, available from DuPont Corp,Wilmington, Del. The foam/powder mixture is placed within the mold frameon the lower platen and leveled to a thickness of about 4 inches. Theplatens are heated to about 400° F. The upper platen is lowered toreduce the thickness to about 2 inches and held for about 25 minutes toprecure the polyimide precursor powder. The upper platen is then loweredto reduce the material thickness to about 1 inch and the temperature isincreased to about 600° F. for about 2 hours to fully cure the powderand stabilize the part dimensionally. The finished product is cooled toroom temperature and removed from the mold. The finished product has adensity of about 2.5 pounds per cubic foot. It has excellent fireresistance and is suitable for use as facings for fire doors, firestopfacings for electronic enclosures, or the like.

EXAMPLE V

Four flat sheets are produced by the method described in Example IV. Ineach case, the foam/precursor mixture is placed in the mold to athickness of about 0.5 inch and compressed in the first compression stepto a thickness of about 0.25 inch. The first panel contains apre-determined amount of finely divided electrically conductiveparticles, available from any of a wide variety of industrial sources.The particles are mixed with the precursor powder just prior to mixingthe precursor powder with the foam flakes. The second panel containsmore particles than the first, and the third panel contains more thanthe second. The forth panel contains no particles. The panels arelightly dusted with a small quantity of the precursor powder and arestacked as follows: third panel, second panel, first panel and forthpanel, that is, in progression from least to most particles. A lightdusting of precursor powder is added between the joining faces of thepanels. The assembly, having an overall thickness of about 1 inch, isreturned to the platen press for the second curing, step as in ExampleIV during which the thickness of the assembly is reduced to about 0.5inch. The final product is found to be an excellent microwave absorberand to be capable of operating in a temperature range exceeding 500° F.continuously.

EXAMPLE VI

Panels are prepared as described in Example IV, except that a sheet offiberglass fabric, lightly dusted with a quantity of the polyimideprecursor powder is placed in the bottom of the mold, which is curvedinstead of flat. The fiberglass fabric is on the convex side of thepanel, which has the shape of a portion of a large-radius sphericalsurface. The material is two-stage pressed with heating as described inExample IV. The final product is highly transparent to microwaves and issuitable for use in assembling geodesic domes for radar monitoringstations or the like.

EXAMPLE VII

"Solimide" brand polyimide foam may be obtained from ImiTech, a Divisionof Ethyl Corporation, Elk Grove Village, Ill. 60007. This flexible foamis passed through a chopper two or more times to insure fine flakeshaving an average longest dimension of about 1/4". A total of 125 gramsof these flakes is produced which is then heated in a thermal oven atabout 300° F. for about one hour. One hundred twenty five grams of theprecursor powder described in Example I is added to the flakes andvigorously mixed. The material is placed in the mold and is compressedto about 1/2 of its loose volume. The mold is placed in a thermal ovenat about 370° F. for about 30 minutes. To complete the cure of thepolyimide the oven temperature is increased to about 450° F. for abouttwo hours. The resulting product is removed from the mold. This finalproduct weighing about 1.2 pounds per cubic foot is compressible andflexible but has reduced tensile strength compared to the as-foamedmaterial.

EXAMPLE VIII

The flakes are prepared as outlined in Example I. The step of adding theprecursor powder is omitted. The flakes are pressed into a mold andcompressed to about 1/2 of the loose volume. The mold is then placedinto a thermal oven at 600° F. for 30 minutes. The oven temperature isthen increased to 650° F. for 10 minutes. The mold is removed andcooled. The resulting foam has a density of about 0.6 pounds per cubicfoot and has adequate strength to be useful in insulating blankets aswell as other applications where thermal and acoustic properties aremore important than strength. By dusting the outside of the part with aslight amount of the precursor powder one can easily add fiberglasswoven fabric such as type E-120 which gives added strength to theblanket, but adds little weight.

EXAMPLE IX

In this example the flakes are prepared exactly as in Example I. Aseparate amount of precursor powder is placed in an oven at 375° F. for5 minutes. This causes the powder to foam but not to cure. This foam,which is reddish is than placed in an ordinary kitchen blender whichreduces it to a fine powder. Equal parts of this powder and the flakesar mixed together and compressed in a tool to 1/2 of the loose volume.Heat curing is the same as described in Example VIII. Material producedby this method has the advantage that the interstices are well filledwith polyimide of equal density, although strength is lower.

EXAMPLE X

A precursor powder is prepared exactly as described in Example I. Thisprecursor powder is placed in a thermal oven at about 375° F. for about1/2 hour to cause the powder to foam. The oven temperature is thenincreased to about 450° F. for about 60 minutes. This yields a foamwhich can be handled but which has not yet been fully cross-linked. Thisimmature foam is then passed through the chopper as described in ExampleI, which creates the partially cured flakes. These flakes are placed inan oven at about 600° F. for about 30 minutes and then the temperatureis increased to about 650° F. for about 10 minutes. The resulting parthas a density of about 0.7 pounds per cubic foot and is stronger thanthose demonstrated by Examples VIII and IX.

Certain specific materials, times, temperatures and other conditionshave been detailed in the above description of preferred embodiments.These may be varied, where suitable, with similar results. Otherapplications, ramifications and variations of this invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure. Thoseare intended to be included within the scope of this invention, asdefined in the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. The method of manufacturing polyimide foam shapes ofuniform density which comprises the steps of:providing a quantity ofpolyimide foam having less than uniform density; chopping said foam intoflakes having lengths less than about 1/4 inch and a length to thicknessratio of at least about 2 to 1; mixing said flakes with a polyimideprecursor powder; placing said mixture in a mold; and heating saidmixture to the curing temperature of said precursor powder; whereby afoam product having highly uniform density and cell size results.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1 wherein said precursor powder hassubstantially the same composition as the polyimide precursor materialused to make said foam.
 3. The method according to claim 1 including thefurther step of heating said foam prior to mixing with said powder to atemperature at which said powder will slightly melt and better adhere tosaid foam during said mixing.
 4. The method according to claim 1 whereinsaid precursor powder is mixed with said flakes by dissolving saidpowder in a solvent, mixing the resulting solution with said flakes anddrying said flakes.
 5. The method according to claim 4 wherein saidsolvent is an alcohol.
 6. The method according to claim 1 wherein saidfoam as provided contains significant discontinuities which may be rind,swirls and voids.
 7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the mixturein said mold is compressed to less than about 50% of the original volumeduring said curing step.
 8. The method according to claim 1 wherein saidfoam contains added components selected from the group consisting ofsurfactants, reinforcing agents, fillers, microwave absorbers andmixtures thereof.
 9. The method of manufacturing polyimide foam shapesof uniform density which comprises the steps of:providing a quantity ofless than fully cured polyimide foam having less than uniform density;chopping said foam into flakes having lengths less than about 1/4 inchand a length to thickness ratio of at least about 2 to 1; placing saidflakes in a mold having a volume less than the uncompressed volume ofsaid flakes; and heating said mold to the final curing temperature ofsaid flakes; whereby a foam product having highly uniform density andcell size results.
 10. The method according to claim 9 wherein thequantity of flakes in said mold is compressed to less than about 50% ofthe original volume during the curing step.